1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a floor panel for buildings or the like, and more particularly to a floor panel for use in elevated floor structures which is a rectangular floor plate comprised of a base plate and a frame made of the same material as the base plate and is pan-shaped so as to accommodate a fill, with the circumferential edge of the frame being angled toward the exterior.
2. Discussion of the Art
Floor plates are used as the basis for floor panels which are assembled into a composite floor slab for a double floor. The corners of such floor panels are placed onto supports or pedestals which themselves are placed onto a raw floor. The floor plate is manufactured of a material having high tensile strength and a high modulus of elasticity, for example, steel sheet. The base plate and the frame form a pan into which a flowable or pourable and hardenable material having low tensile strength and a low modulus of elasticity, for example, concrete, may be introduced to form a floor panel. The upper face of the material or the composite slab may be covered with a covering material.
A floor plate of the type mentioned above is disclosed in German Gebrauchsmuster (Utility Patent) 78/04,148. In this known floor plate, the frame extends conically outwardly beginning at the base plate. Its circumferential edge changes to an outwardly projecting circumferential flange which ends in an abutment edge. Adjacent floor plates contact one another along these abutment edges. A covering layer is applied so as to be offset backwardly from the abutment edges. After the floor plates are filled and covered, grooves appear between the covering layers of adjacent floor panels of a composite slab and are filled with a permanently elastic putty so as to produce a water and air tight seal. This known floor panel has no features which increase its bending strength and which produce a fire-inhibiting effect in the crevices or edge regions in which adjacent floor panels abut one another. Moreover, when the floor panels of composite slabs are removed and reinstalled, the putty must be renewed.
In the floor panel disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift (Published Non-Examined Application) 2,700,619, which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,156, the base plate is a body of non-flammable, concrete-like material which is given increased bending strength by having a reinforcing frame or grid imbedded therein. The body is formed with a plurality of cavities (or inwardly oriented recesses) within zones bounded by the reinforcing grid.
In the floor panel disclosed in German Gebrauchsmuster (Utility Patent) 81/07,208, an air tight seal of the crevices between adjacent floor panels of a composite slab is obtained by the provision of an elastic circumferential sealing strip at the undercut edge of the floor panel.